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“All-Night Pharmacy is a genuinely propulsive and magnetic read. Madievsky’s writing is rich and boldly dark, slick and queer in all the best ways. Immersing myself in her work felt akin to pressing on a bruise, a beautiful ache that I remembered long after I finished reading. A deeply human, wonderfully twisty novel that takes you down the rabbit hole of familial trauma and back up to the light again. All-Night Pharmacy is a glimmery showstopper of a debut novel. I’m obsessed with it.”
--KRISTEN ARNETT, New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things “All-Night Pharmacy is a black hole, a force so lively, unfiltered, and pure that you won't mind being sucked in headfirst. On a line level, Madievsky is untouchable. Somehow, she has crafted a rough-edged pill of a debut that cuts deep while also being deeply pleasurable to swallow." --JEAN KYOUNG FRAZIER, author of Pizza Girl “All-Night Pharmacy dances on the knife’s edge of a sister’s fierce love and the necessary loneliness of claiming your own destiny. Wry and tender, Ruth Madievsky’s novel offers a sensitive portrayal of addiction and recovery, queer romance, and fraught family dynamics. A beautiful book and healing read, from beginning to end.” --JEAN CHEN HO, author of Fiona and Jane “Witty, poignant, and darkly funny, All-Night Pharmacy is a vibrant debut about longing, identity, and the wild, unbreakable bonds of family. In prose that is sharp, exuberant, wry, and smart, Madievsky conjures an affecting, utterly unforgettable tale of two tempestuous sisters.” --KIMBERLY KING PARSONS, author of National Book Award Finalist Black Light “With poetic precision and clear-eyed wit, Ruth Madievsky takes a scalpel to familiar ideas of intimacy, sisterhood, and becoming, reshaping them with an understanding and magnetism all her own. Her debut is a meditation on sobriety, an excavation of belonging, and the realest portrait of inherited trauma I’ve ever seen. All-Night Pharmacy is pure sorcery, like being up till dawn with your wildest, wisest friend, ready to bond yourself to her for life.” --KYLE LUCIA WU, author of Win Me Something |
ABOUT ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY
Rachel Kushner meets David Lynch in this fever dream of an LA novel about a young woman who commits a drunken act of violence just before her sister vanishes without a trace
On the night of her high school graduation, a young woman follows her older sister Debbie to Salvation, a Los Angeles bar patronized by energy healers, aspiring actors, and all-around misfits. After the two share a bag of unidentified pills, the evening turns into a haze of sensual and risky interactions—nothing unusual for two sisters bound in an incredibly toxic relationship. Our unnamed narrator has always been under the spell of the alluring and rebellious Debbie and, despite her own hesitations, she has always said yes to nights like these. That is, until Debbie disappears.
Falling deeper into the life she cultivated with her sister, our narrator gets a job as an emergency room secretary where she steals pills to sell on the side. Cue Sasha, a Jewish refugee from the former Soviet Union who arrives at the hospital claiming to be a psychic tasked with acting as the narrator’s spiritual guide. The nature of this relationship evolves and blurs, a kaleidoscope of friendship, sex, mysticism, and ambiguous power dynamics.
With prose pulsing like a neon sign, Ruth Madievsky’s All-Night Pharmacy is an intoxicating portrait of a young woman consumed with unease over how a person should be. As she attempts sobriety and sexual embodiment, she must decide whether to search for her estranged sister, or allow her to remain a relic of the past.
On the night of her high school graduation, a young woman follows her older sister Debbie to Salvation, a Los Angeles bar patronized by energy healers, aspiring actors, and all-around misfits. After the two share a bag of unidentified pills, the evening turns into a haze of sensual and risky interactions—nothing unusual for two sisters bound in an incredibly toxic relationship. Our unnamed narrator has always been under the spell of the alluring and rebellious Debbie and, despite her own hesitations, she has always said yes to nights like these. That is, until Debbie disappears.
Falling deeper into the life she cultivated with her sister, our narrator gets a job as an emergency room secretary where she steals pills to sell on the side. Cue Sasha, a Jewish refugee from the former Soviet Union who arrives at the hospital claiming to be a psychic tasked with acting as the narrator’s spiritual guide. The nature of this relationship evolves and blurs, a kaleidoscope of friendship, sex, mysticism, and ambiguous power dynamics.
With prose pulsing like a neon sign, Ruth Madievsky’s All-Night Pharmacy is an intoxicating portrait of a young woman consumed with unease over how a person should be. As she attempts sobriety and sexual embodiment, she must decide whether to search for her estranged sister, or allow her to remain a relic of the past.
PRESS
AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD FOR FIRST FICTION
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION
A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST FOR BISEXUAL FICTION
AN INDIE NEXT PICK
Named a Best or Most Anticipated 2023 Book by:
★ The Los Angeles Times (1, 2) ★ NPR ★ Vanity Fair ★ Buzzfeed ★ Vogue ★ Audible ★ Vulture ★ Shondaland (1, 2) ★ Nylon (1, 2, 3) ★ Cosmopolitan (1, 2) ★ Bustle ★ Them ★ Literary Hub (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ★ Goodreads (1, 2, 3, 4) ★ Electric Literature ★ The Millions ★ Marie Claire ★ Hey Alma (two lists!) ★ Autostraddle (three lists!)★ Town & Country ★ Alta Journal (two lists!) ★ San Francisco Chronicle ★ Library Journal ★ Purewow ★ Pink News ★ LGBTQ Reads (three lists!) ★ Los Angeles Daily News / OC Register ★ Debutiful (three lists!) ★ Chicago Review of Books (two lists!) ★ Powell’s Books (two lists!) ★ The Week ★ BookClubs ★ The Everygirl ★ Publisher's Lunch (Buzz Books 2023) ★ Hadassah Magazine ★ The New York Post ★ The Good Men Project ★ The Messenger ★ Write or Die (two lists!) ★ PopSugar ★ Sunset ★ Jewish Book Council ★ Book Riot ★ PopMatters ★ Spectrum Culture
A HEY, ALMA BEST JEWISH FICTION AWARD NOMINEE
“tender and hilarious”
--The New York Times, Betsy Bonner
“really, really funny"
--NPR, Adrian Florido
“...an electric tale of two sisters...Madievsky renders her protagonist’s search for selfhood vividly and viscerally, resulting in a coming-of-age story that radiates like a Lynchian fever dream."
--Publisher's Weekly
"If you’re looking for a wild and delightfully weird sister story, this book is for you; Madievsky expertly weaves threads of queerness, addiction, Jewish mysticism, and more into this novel about a young woman struggling to define herself in present-day Los Angeles without the presence of her chaotic, captivating older sister."
--Vogue, Emma Specter
“a wild L.A. story in which plot and prose are both turned up to the max…a tender queer love story and a deep dive into the inherited trauma of immigrants (like Madievsky) from the former Soviet Union.”
--The Los Angeles Times, Bethanne Patrick
“…pulses with intensity…The taut narrative is driven by Madievsky’s razor-sharp prose, which she attributes to her background as a poet.
--The Los Angeles Times, Jim Ruland
“gripping…highbrow brilliant”
--New York Magazine
“It’s a cornucopia, all-night pharmacy of genres…What keeps it going is she just has this wonderful sharp language...every sentence feels like a new way of saying something.”
--NPR (KCRW), Boris Kachka
“...a gripping, Surrealist portrait of a toxic sibling relationship...All-Night Pharmacy captures the clutching obsequiousness we feel for those we admire and how the tendency to impress and entangle can unwittingly lead down a path of self-destruction and regret. Madievsky’s lyrical-prose style and arresting imagery create a book that is far more than an everyday romp through the Los Angeles underbelly."
--Vulture, Isle McElroy
“Madievsky’s debut has everything I want from a novel: a toxic sister relationship, countless nights at a trashy LA nightclub called Salvation, and a dreamy sapphic romance…This novel is hypnotic; I inhaled it.”
--Nylon, Anna Dorn
“Hilarious, insightful, and unapologetically queer. "
--Buzzfeed, David Vogel
“intoxicating...Madievsky's prose crackles like a live wire"
--The Los Angeles Times, Ivy Pochoda
“In an impressive undertaking, Madievsky weaves together a tale of addiction, queerness, and Jewish mysticism, bound together with vibrant imagery and thoughtful prose."
--The Cut, Hannah Jackson
“dazzling...her glittering, druggy debut...will be devoured by fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Raven Leilani, and, dare I say, Charles Bukowski."
–Audible, Kat J.
“All-Night Pharmacy is both hilarious and painful, a keen exploration of a woman’s coming of age"
--Them, Ilana Massad
“A toxic familial relationship and a whole lot of bad decisions turns one debaucherous night into a living nightmare for a woman who’s just trying to figure out who she is and how to be in the world. This novel feels both too real and dreamlike all at once, kind of like our favorite Taylor [Swift] songs."
--People, Lizz Schumer
“thrilling all the way down to a sentence level...Ruth Madievsky displays tremendous storytelling range, capturing all that is bitter and hilarious, heartbreaking and enlightening, wise and foolish within the well-developed mind of a single central character."
--BookPage
“[A] coolly delivered debut. . . she has an excellent arsenal of metaphors for disconnection: “The city splayed open like a surgical patient,” “the sky was the hopeful blue of toilet bowl cleaner,” “her love felt like cold hands shaking me awake.” An assured debut, at once atmospheric and gritty."
--Kirkus Reviews
“All-Night Pharmacy reads like an endless Los Angeles party: aglow with fervency and bursting with drugs, sex, desperate actors, energy healers, strippers, and eccentrics...It’s stylish and smart — its gloss only hints to its depth, like the uncanny glisten of a see-through acrylic nail."
--Bustle, Maggie Lange
“In this vivid debut, an unmoored Angeleno follows her older sister, Debbie, into addiction and pill scams; when Debbie vanishes, our narrator’s relationship with a psychic fills the void—for a time.”
--Vanity Fair, Keziah Weir
“Get ready for one of the best books of the new millennium...The novel is filled with razor-sharp wit and nuanced meditation on sobriety, sisterhood, and shame. Madievsky has entered the pantheon of debut authors readers will be talking about a decade from now and beyond."
--Debutiful
“All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky had me reeling; what a poetic fever dream of familial love, violence, and devotion, with the most arresting sentences and images you can imagine."
—The Millions, Kyle Kucia Wu
“Madievsky’s searing debut, All-Night Pharmacy, captures the manic highs and savage lows of addiction...Madievsky wields imagery like an emotional sledgehammer...[She] conjures a complicated California where sisters disappear, mysterious strangers spark epiphanies, and sex and selfhood teeter on a knife’s edge."
--The Millions, Jackson Burgess
“[an] electric debut…a kaleidoscopic journey of sex, power, and mysticism.”
--The Millions, Liv Albright
“Madievsky arrives with her luminous debut novel...At once atmospheric and visceral."
--Electric Literature, Michelle Hart
“In its portrait of Los Angeles, All-Night Pharmacy centers the bimbo, the psychic, the addict, the immigrant, the crazy person, the many different types of women. Here, the male private detective is the minor character who exists for intrigue and texture. It’s a reworking of a genre so radical and so human it ends up creating a whole new genre of its own. Meet the queer intergenerational mystery California noir — as written by Madievsky, it’s fantastic."
--Autostraddwww.autostraddle.com/all-night-pharmacy-novel-review/le, Drew Burnett Gregory
“Highly anticipated. . . Eclectic, clever. . . An intoxicating, cutting, and wise tale that will surely land on everyone’s summer reading list.”
--Shondaland, Katie Tamola
“...a vibrant and clever voice that lays bare the narrator’s chaotic corner of the world (a vivid, drug-fueled Los Angeles)"
--Shondaland, Samantha Paige Rosen
“raw, outrageous, iconoclastic, often hilarious...a memorable debut"
--Literary Hub, Jane Ciabattari
“All-Night Pharmacy feels like reading the diary of your most off-the-rails friend— the one who’s so unpredictable that it’s almost frightening to be around her, but so fun and endearing that you would never leave her side. The friend who you’re always surprised to hear from on Monday because you were certain she died over the weekend...It’s a book about how hard it is to be a person, how it feels to navigate a life."
--Literary Hub, McKayla Coyle
“compelling and mysterious"
—Cosmopolitan, Melanie Curry
“Ruth Madievsky is a powerhouse...a prismatic debut novel."
--The Rumpus, Rachel León
“All-Night Pharmacy is an old-school LA novel in the best way, a total fever dream of lingering violence and lost souls."
--Chicago Review of Books, Michael Welch
“hilarious and harrowing"
--San Francisco Chronicle, Bernadette Fay
“In neon-tinted prose, Madievsky takes readers on a mystical journey from overlighted late-night hospital emergency rooms to brutalist apartment blocks in Moldova."
--The Los Angeles Times, Lorraine Berry
“Visceral and exacting in its prose. . . Where All-Night Pharmacy truly succeeds is in its avoidance of lofty dreams or tidy conclusions...There is satisfaction to All-Night Pharmacy, a sort of slowing of a swinging pendulum: there is relief when it comes to a halt, and the lingering satisfaction we got from watching the violent swings."
--Brooklyn Rail, Madison Ford
“propulsive…a gritty coming-of-age story”
--Town & Country Magazine
“[one of] the year's most talked-about works of sapphic literary fiction"
--NBC, Elaine Patton
“Written in prose that’s full of energy, wit and striking imagery”
--Hadassah Magazine, Sandee Brawarsky
“All-Night Pharmacy” is Los Angeles depravity: sex, drugs, and desperate actor types. But at the core, this is the story of two sisters as they hurtle towards adulthood, contend with their decisions, and call into question their sisterhood.
--The Good Men Project
“A wild read."
--Publishers Weekly, Louisa Ermelino
“a real page-turner…the perfect weekend beach read”
--Jezebel, Kylie Cheung
“All-Night Pharmacy''s world feels like a Phoebe Bridgers song--spooky and sexy, stringing pop culture together with the abject, and always swelling with feeling."
--The Believer, Rosa Boshier González
“gorgeously rendered"
--Washington Post, Zoe Hu
“Madievsky weaves a compelling coming-of-age yarn."
—BookList
“[a] mesmerizing...dizzying, kaleidoscopic, and ambitious love song to the disparate locales of Los Angeles and Eastern Europe."
--Full Stop, Maria Kuznetsova
“I’ve been in Los Angeles for over a decade now, and this book captures something about the city so well—a seediness, a quality of light, the bougainvillea, the grifters, magicians, and wannabes."
--BOMB, Katya Apekina
“...All-Night Pharmacy is an instant classic...I reveled in the sexy, scary edges to this book, and at every turn it’s obvious it was written by a poet, Madievsky’s sentences lithe and alive."
--Autostraddle, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
“gripping…an instant addition to the LA novel canon…All-Night Pharmacy is a blazing success”
--PopMatters, Rachel R. Carroll
“a quippy, rollicking novel of women behaving badly in a gritty Los Angeles"
--Los Angeles Review of Books, Sasha Vasilyuk
“[one] of the year’s most talked-about works of sapphic literary fiction"
--NBC Out, Elaina Patton
“Madievsky solidifies herself as an unmistakable voice in fiction with this spellbinding debut...[an] atmospheric banger of a book."
--Gulf Coast, Greg Mania
“very funny...a pleasure to read"
--Lilith, Jessica Gross
“stunning...immersive...[an] incredible debut"
--Tupelo Quarterly, Wendy Chen
“full of zingers"
--Jewish Currents, Helen Betya Rubinstein
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Stylist: 7 books that explore the messy, complicated reality of sisterhood
INTERVIEWS
The Los Angeles Times: "This L.A. pharmacist’s debut novel is loaded with sex and drugs. Don’t tell her boss."
NPR: “Ruth Madievsky’s new novel explores trauma, drugs, and toxic sisterhood”
The Cut: “An acid trip through generational trauma”
Them: “This debut novel is a queer, pill-fueled Los Angeles Odyssey”
BOMB
Electric Literature: “The path to self-actualization is paved with grifters and psychics”
Interview Magazine: "Ruth Madievsky wants readers to post nudes of her new novel"
Shondaland: "Survival and resilience in All-Night Pharmacy"
Literary Hub: “Ruth Madievsky on creating fiction from poetry”
Hey, Alma: "Ruth Madievsky's Jewish Diasporic Drama Queens"
Full Stop
Hobart
Publisher's Weekly: "Sex, Drugs, Siblings!"
Gulf Coast
The OC Register: USC Pharmacy graduate Ruth Madievsky explores opioid epidemic in debut novel
Write or Die
The Rumpus: “Amnesia and abject terror are prerequisites”
Los Angeles Review of Books
Autostraddle
Belletrist
Tupelo Quarterly
Shelf Awareness
The Maris Review (podcast): "Ruth Madievsky on the semi-cursed nightlife of Los Angeles"
Debutiful (podcast)
Debutiful: Circling Back (podcast)
Burned by Books (podcast)
The Newsette
The Frontlist
The Coachella Review
Cleaver Magazine
Powell's Books: "Pills, Pills, Pills: Ruth Madievsky's playlist for "All-Night Pharmacy"
EXCERPTS & RELATED PIECES
ZYZZYVA: “Moldova”
Guernica: “Draw Me” (a deleted scene)
Literary Hub: "Ruth Madievsky on Burying Her Darlings in a Cemetery of Bangers" (craft essay)
Electric Literature: “7 Books About Reckoning with Intergenerational Trauma”
WHAT BOOKSELLERS ARE SAYING
A July Indie Next Pick!
“This book has it all: drugs, sex, dive bars, emergency rooms, a missing sister, a romance with a psychic. This debut from Ruth Madievsky promises to be visceral, hilarious, unsettling, and entirely new. An incredible debut from Ruth Madievsky.”
—Kelsey F, Powell’s Books (Staff Pick)
“All-night and all-consuming.”
—Wesley Minter, Third Place Books (Staff Pick)
“A tender and laugh-out-loud funny debut about one woman's journey to find what she really wants in life. Exploring themes of family dynamics, generational trauma, coming out, and addiction, this book stuck with me long after I turned the final page. Stunning, hilarious, insightful, and VERY queer. I loved it.”
—David Vogel, Literati Bookstore
“It bit me, it patted my head, it ran me over, it held my hand. Madievsky writes about drugs, wandering around your early 20's, the unmatched and sometimes dangerous obligation of the sisterly bond, Russian and Jewish heritage, psychics and the sense of believing in something so well, I was entranced."
—Emily Sperber, Third Place Books
“...a spellbinding debut novel, stirring addiction, sisterhood, cultural identity, psychic vision, and the glittering City of Angels into a potent, darkly funny narrative.”
—Debra Ginsberg, DIESEL, A Bookstore
“…an astute novel about both generational and personal trauma, immigrant family pressures (all too real), queerness, and trying to figure out what one’s life should be.”
—Anton Bogomazov, Politics & Prose
“A spiraling look into a toxic sisterhood and an exploration of addiction, ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY captivated me from the very first page. The author deftly pulls the reader into rooting for the unnamed narrator, as she tumbles in and out of addiction and relationships. "
—Mallory Melton, BookPeople (Staff Pick)
“...a wonderful debut. I was wrapped up in the world of the story and all its soft and then hard-hitting moments. This novel is a lightning bolt burned into my vision."
—Torrin Nelson, Queen Anne Book Company (Staff Pick)
“For anyone who loves a good hot mess express, get ready for Ruth Madievsky's ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY. Equal parts beautiful and surreal, this incredible debut had me in its grips from page one. I adored it!”
—Lindsay Lynch, Parnassus Books
“A brilliant kaleidoscope of a debut about sisters, addiction, mental illness, queer love, and acceptance. Ruth Madievsky skillfully threads the story of the unnamed protagonist and her lost sister with both sadness and humor, navigating the brutality and dependency of their time together, as well as the years spent untangling from her past that follow. Madievsky’s ability to write beautifully about life while also providing a shockingly honest depiction of trauma has created an unforgettable novel that is both gritty in the details and breathtakingly vivid in describing the world around us.”
—Luisa Smith, Book Passage
“Oh my heart! If you are looking for a broken but tenderhearted main character to love, may I introduce you to our narrator in All-Night Pharmacy. She is the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants and the younger sister of a no-holds barred wild child, Debbie, whose grip on her life has led to her own addiction and bad choices...Gorgeous, funny as hell writing. It's all here. I read it in one big swoop.”
—Stefanie Kiper, Water Street Bookstore
“...an energetic and unique Los Angeles coming-of-age novel. Capturing moments in lyrical description, Madievsky crafts a story of two Jewish sisters intertwined in a family of trauma, finding themselves only at a bar of mystics called Salvation. Descending into prescription pills and an emergency room secretary night gig, our narrator meets Sasha, a psychic claiming a strong connection to her. The world of All-Night Pharmacy feels tangible, haunting and obscured by smoke yet relatable and warm. This story kept me guessing, using elements of city life, intense relationships, and magic to create a spellbinding novel.”
—Nikita Imafidon, Raven Book Store
“It's hard to describe All-Night Pharmacy—it deals in addiction, recovery, burgeoning sexual and cultural identity, to name a few things. All this and more surround our unnamed narrator and her volatile relationship with her older sister Debbie. Emotionally charged and turbulent, this journey of a young woman vs the void will appeal to fans of Melissa Broder and Ottessa Moshfegh.”
—Andrew King, Secret Garden Bookshop
“I inhaled it. A coming of age story that is reminiscent of Ottessa Moshfegh's novels. Madievsky manages to effortlessly balance so much within this novel; both a story of a dysfunctional and codependent relationship between the unnamed narrator and her sister and a journey of self-realization to how she wants her life to be. Within this journey, the narrator navigated through an opioid addiction and debauchery in general, sobriety, falling in love with a psychic, and befriending an iguana named Apples. This is wonderful, entrancing, beautifully written and you should absolutely read this and be exposed to the masterpiece that this book is.”
—Rachel Martin, Books Inc.
“I made the mistake of starting this novel right before bed, and consequently stayed up half the night reading. Wow--this novel is an event! It's a glorious mix of trauma and glitter. I was looking for something fast-paced, dark, and carbonated, and this was the perfect thing. If books were candy, this novel would be Pop Rocks."
—Phoenix Books (Staff Pick)
“This is a book about drugs, sisterhood, queer love, religious guilt, and the weight of the future, whether you know what it will bring or not. I don't think you could ask for anything more. Sharp and crackling with energy, Madievsky's prose pulled me through this story at lightning speed and stayed electric even when discussing the numbness of losing yourself. Worth every minute.”
—Tabitha, Still North Books (Staff Pick)
“A dark, funny, heartwarming story of generational trauma. A portrait of toxic and loving relationships, both queer and not. The book's colorful cast includes psychics, drug users, a grumpy Moldovan groundskeeper, and an iguana named Apples! Plus, Madievsky's language is beautifully poetic and her descriptions are hilarious."
—Maxim, Papercuts
“The inextricable bond of sisters is the topic of this poet’s stellar debut about a toxic, co-dependent relationship in drug-fueled Los Angeles. Our narrator’s sister is Debbie, who has always held sway over her and influenced their wild life of clubs and pills. Now Debbie is gone and a Russian psychic is enlisted to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Madievsky, a Moldovan Jewish refugee, “wanted to write the next Jesus’ Son, to write with a voice that pressed me down to my red blood cells.” Starting out as a collection of stories, it was transformed into a propulsive novel about complicated women."
—Melanie, The Center for Fiction
“This debut novel had me at the first line: “Spending time with my sister, Debbie, was like buying acid off a guy you met on the bus." Madievsky uses her talents as a poet to give you a trove of caustic similes, snappy dialogue, and a thoroughly surprising plot."
—Dan, Harvard Books (staff pick)
“In All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky two sisters Debbie and the unnamed narrator are entangled in a toxic relationship as each deals with addiction, inherited trauma, and a schizophrenic mother. The older sister Debbie is estranged from her family and deemed a bad influence on the younger sister who dreams of attending college. In order to survive each sister must forge a life independent of the other. Despite the heavy subject All-Night Pharmacy is interspersed with humor and warmth. I love this book!”
—Caitlin Luce Baker, Island Books
“This prize-winning debut is beautiful, hellish, bizarre, and written with such velocity that it'll stay in your bloodstream for weeks."
–Subtext Books
Staff Pick, The Head & The Hand
WINNER OF THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD FOR FIRST FICTION
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION
A LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST FOR BISEXUAL FICTION
AN INDIE NEXT PICK
Named a Best or Most Anticipated 2023 Book by:
★ The Los Angeles Times (1, 2) ★ NPR ★ Vanity Fair ★ Buzzfeed ★ Vogue ★ Audible ★ Vulture ★ Shondaland (1, 2) ★ Nylon (1, 2, 3) ★ Cosmopolitan (1, 2) ★ Bustle ★ Them ★ Literary Hub (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) ★ Goodreads (1, 2, 3, 4) ★ Electric Literature ★ The Millions ★ Marie Claire ★ Hey Alma (two lists!) ★ Autostraddle (three lists!)★ Town & Country ★ Alta Journal (two lists!) ★ San Francisco Chronicle ★ Library Journal ★ Purewow ★ Pink News ★ LGBTQ Reads (three lists!) ★ Los Angeles Daily News / OC Register ★ Debutiful (three lists!) ★ Chicago Review of Books (two lists!) ★ Powell’s Books (two lists!) ★ The Week ★ BookClubs ★ The Everygirl ★ Publisher's Lunch (Buzz Books 2023) ★ Hadassah Magazine ★ The New York Post ★ The Good Men Project ★ The Messenger ★ Write or Die (two lists!) ★ PopSugar ★ Sunset ★ Jewish Book Council ★ Book Riot ★ PopMatters ★ Spectrum Culture
A HEY, ALMA BEST JEWISH FICTION AWARD NOMINEE
“tender and hilarious”
--The New York Times, Betsy Bonner
“really, really funny"
--NPR, Adrian Florido
“...an electric tale of two sisters...Madievsky renders her protagonist’s search for selfhood vividly and viscerally, resulting in a coming-of-age story that radiates like a Lynchian fever dream."
--Publisher's Weekly
"If you’re looking for a wild and delightfully weird sister story, this book is for you; Madievsky expertly weaves threads of queerness, addiction, Jewish mysticism, and more into this novel about a young woman struggling to define herself in present-day Los Angeles without the presence of her chaotic, captivating older sister."
--Vogue, Emma Specter
“a wild L.A. story in which plot and prose are both turned up to the max…a tender queer love story and a deep dive into the inherited trauma of immigrants (like Madievsky) from the former Soviet Union.”
--The Los Angeles Times, Bethanne Patrick
“…pulses with intensity…The taut narrative is driven by Madievsky’s razor-sharp prose, which she attributes to her background as a poet.
--The Los Angeles Times, Jim Ruland
“gripping…highbrow brilliant”
--New York Magazine
“It’s a cornucopia, all-night pharmacy of genres…What keeps it going is she just has this wonderful sharp language...every sentence feels like a new way of saying something.”
--NPR (KCRW), Boris Kachka
“...a gripping, Surrealist portrait of a toxic sibling relationship...All-Night Pharmacy captures the clutching obsequiousness we feel for those we admire and how the tendency to impress and entangle can unwittingly lead down a path of self-destruction and regret. Madievsky’s lyrical-prose style and arresting imagery create a book that is far more than an everyday romp through the Los Angeles underbelly."
--Vulture, Isle McElroy
“Madievsky’s debut has everything I want from a novel: a toxic sister relationship, countless nights at a trashy LA nightclub called Salvation, and a dreamy sapphic romance…This novel is hypnotic; I inhaled it.”
--Nylon, Anna Dorn
“Hilarious, insightful, and unapologetically queer. "
--Buzzfeed, David Vogel
“intoxicating...Madievsky's prose crackles like a live wire"
--The Los Angeles Times, Ivy Pochoda
“In an impressive undertaking, Madievsky weaves together a tale of addiction, queerness, and Jewish mysticism, bound together with vibrant imagery and thoughtful prose."
--The Cut, Hannah Jackson
“dazzling...her glittering, druggy debut...will be devoured by fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Raven Leilani, and, dare I say, Charles Bukowski."
–Audible, Kat J.
“All-Night Pharmacy is both hilarious and painful, a keen exploration of a woman’s coming of age"
--Them, Ilana Massad
“A toxic familial relationship and a whole lot of bad decisions turns one debaucherous night into a living nightmare for a woman who’s just trying to figure out who she is and how to be in the world. This novel feels both too real and dreamlike all at once, kind of like our favorite Taylor [Swift] songs."
--People, Lizz Schumer
“thrilling all the way down to a sentence level...Ruth Madievsky displays tremendous storytelling range, capturing all that is bitter and hilarious, heartbreaking and enlightening, wise and foolish within the well-developed mind of a single central character."
--BookPage
“[A] coolly delivered debut. . . she has an excellent arsenal of metaphors for disconnection: “The city splayed open like a surgical patient,” “the sky was the hopeful blue of toilet bowl cleaner,” “her love felt like cold hands shaking me awake.” An assured debut, at once atmospheric and gritty."
--Kirkus Reviews
“All-Night Pharmacy reads like an endless Los Angeles party: aglow with fervency and bursting with drugs, sex, desperate actors, energy healers, strippers, and eccentrics...It’s stylish and smart — its gloss only hints to its depth, like the uncanny glisten of a see-through acrylic nail."
--Bustle, Maggie Lange
“In this vivid debut, an unmoored Angeleno follows her older sister, Debbie, into addiction and pill scams; when Debbie vanishes, our narrator’s relationship with a psychic fills the void—for a time.”
--Vanity Fair, Keziah Weir
“Get ready for one of the best books of the new millennium...The novel is filled with razor-sharp wit and nuanced meditation on sobriety, sisterhood, and shame. Madievsky has entered the pantheon of debut authors readers will be talking about a decade from now and beyond."
--Debutiful
“All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky had me reeling; what a poetic fever dream of familial love, violence, and devotion, with the most arresting sentences and images you can imagine."
—The Millions, Kyle Kucia Wu
“Madievsky’s searing debut, All-Night Pharmacy, captures the manic highs and savage lows of addiction...Madievsky wields imagery like an emotional sledgehammer...[She] conjures a complicated California where sisters disappear, mysterious strangers spark epiphanies, and sex and selfhood teeter on a knife’s edge."
--The Millions, Jackson Burgess
“[an] electric debut…a kaleidoscopic journey of sex, power, and mysticism.”
--The Millions, Liv Albright
“Madievsky arrives with her luminous debut novel...At once atmospheric and visceral."
--Electric Literature, Michelle Hart
“In its portrait of Los Angeles, All-Night Pharmacy centers the bimbo, the psychic, the addict, the immigrant, the crazy person, the many different types of women. Here, the male private detective is the minor character who exists for intrigue and texture. It’s a reworking of a genre so radical and so human it ends up creating a whole new genre of its own. Meet the queer intergenerational mystery California noir — as written by Madievsky, it’s fantastic."
--Autostraddwww.autostraddle.com/all-night-pharmacy-novel-review/le, Drew Burnett Gregory
“Highly anticipated. . . Eclectic, clever. . . An intoxicating, cutting, and wise tale that will surely land on everyone’s summer reading list.”
--Shondaland, Katie Tamola
“...a vibrant and clever voice that lays bare the narrator’s chaotic corner of the world (a vivid, drug-fueled Los Angeles)"
--Shondaland, Samantha Paige Rosen
“raw, outrageous, iconoclastic, often hilarious...a memorable debut"
--Literary Hub, Jane Ciabattari
“All-Night Pharmacy feels like reading the diary of your most off-the-rails friend— the one who’s so unpredictable that it’s almost frightening to be around her, but so fun and endearing that you would never leave her side. The friend who you’re always surprised to hear from on Monday because you were certain she died over the weekend...It’s a book about how hard it is to be a person, how it feels to navigate a life."
--Literary Hub, McKayla Coyle
“compelling and mysterious"
—Cosmopolitan, Melanie Curry
“Ruth Madievsky is a powerhouse...a prismatic debut novel."
--The Rumpus, Rachel León
“All-Night Pharmacy is an old-school LA novel in the best way, a total fever dream of lingering violence and lost souls."
--Chicago Review of Books, Michael Welch
“hilarious and harrowing"
--San Francisco Chronicle, Bernadette Fay
“In neon-tinted prose, Madievsky takes readers on a mystical journey from overlighted late-night hospital emergency rooms to brutalist apartment blocks in Moldova."
--The Los Angeles Times, Lorraine Berry
“Visceral and exacting in its prose. . . Where All-Night Pharmacy truly succeeds is in its avoidance of lofty dreams or tidy conclusions...There is satisfaction to All-Night Pharmacy, a sort of slowing of a swinging pendulum: there is relief when it comes to a halt, and the lingering satisfaction we got from watching the violent swings."
--Brooklyn Rail, Madison Ford
“propulsive…a gritty coming-of-age story”
--Town & Country Magazine
“[one of] the year's most talked-about works of sapphic literary fiction"
--NBC, Elaine Patton
“Written in prose that’s full of energy, wit and striking imagery”
--Hadassah Magazine, Sandee Brawarsky
“All-Night Pharmacy” is Los Angeles depravity: sex, drugs, and desperate actor types. But at the core, this is the story of two sisters as they hurtle towards adulthood, contend with their decisions, and call into question their sisterhood.
--The Good Men Project
“A wild read."
--Publishers Weekly, Louisa Ermelino
“a real page-turner…the perfect weekend beach read”
--Jezebel, Kylie Cheung
“All-Night Pharmacy''s world feels like a Phoebe Bridgers song--spooky and sexy, stringing pop culture together with the abject, and always swelling with feeling."
--The Believer, Rosa Boshier González
“gorgeously rendered"
--Washington Post, Zoe Hu
“Madievsky weaves a compelling coming-of-age yarn."
—BookList
“[a] mesmerizing...dizzying, kaleidoscopic, and ambitious love song to the disparate locales of Los Angeles and Eastern Europe."
--Full Stop, Maria Kuznetsova
“I’ve been in Los Angeles for over a decade now, and this book captures something about the city so well—a seediness, a quality of light, the bougainvillea, the grifters, magicians, and wannabes."
--BOMB, Katya Apekina
“...All-Night Pharmacy is an instant classic...I reveled in the sexy, scary edges to this book, and at every turn it’s obvious it was written by a poet, Madievsky’s sentences lithe and alive."
--Autostraddle, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya
“gripping…an instant addition to the LA novel canon…All-Night Pharmacy is a blazing success”
--PopMatters, Rachel R. Carroll
“a quippy, rollicking novel of women behaving badly in a gritty Los Angeles"
--Los Angeles Review of Books, Sasha Vasilyuk
“[one] of the year’s most talked-about works of sapphic literary fiction"
--NBC Out, Elaina Patton
“Madievsky solidifies herself as an unmistakable voice in fiction with this spellbinding debut...[an] atmospheric banger of a book."
--Gulf Coast, Greg Mania
“very funny...a pleasure to read"
--Lilith, Jessica Gross
“stunning...immersive...[an] incredible debut"
--Tupelo Quarterly, Wendy Chen
“full of zingers"
--Jewish Currents, Helen Betya Rubinstein
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Stylist: 7 books that explore the messy, complicated reality of sisterhood
INTERVIEWS
The Los Angeles Times: "This L.A. pharmacist’s debut novel is loaded with sex and drugs. Don’t tell her boss."
NPR: “Ruth Madievsky’s new novel explores trauma, drugs, and toxic sisterhood”
The Cut: “An acid trip through generational trauma”
Them: “This debut novel is a queer, pill-fueled Los Angeles Odyssey”
BOMB
Electric Literature: “The path to self-actualization is paved with grifters and psychics”
Interview Magazine: "Ruth Madievsky wants readers to post nudes of her new novel"
Shondaland: "Survival and resilience in All-Night Pharmacy"
Literary Hub: “Ruth Madievsky on creating fiction from poetry”
Hey, Alma: "Ruth Madievsky's Jewish Diasporic Drama Queens"
Full Stop
Hobart
Publisher's Weekly: "Sex, Drugs, Siblings!"
Gulf Coast
The OC Register: USC Pharmacy graduate Ruth Madievsky explores opioid epidemic in debut novel
Write or Die
The Rumpus: “Amnesia and abject terror are prerequisites”
Los Angeles Review of Books
Autostraddle
Belletrist
Tupelo Quarterly
Shelf Awareness
The Maris Review (podcast): "Ruth Madievsky on the semi-cursed nightlife of Los Angeles"
Debutiful (podcast)
Debutiful: Circling Back (podcast)
Burned by Books (podcast)
The Newsette
The Frontlist
The Coachella Review
Cleaver Magazine
Powell's Books: "Pills, Pills, Pills: Ruth Madievsky's playlist for "All-Night Pharmacy"
EXCERPTS & RELATED PIECES
ZYZZYVA: “Moldova”
Guernica: “Draw Me” (a deleted scene)
Literary Hub: "Ruth Madievsky on Burying Her Darlings in a Cemetery of Bangers" (craft essay)
Electric Literature: “7 Books About Reckoning with Intergenerational Trauma”
WHAT BOOKSELLERS ARE SAYING
A July Indie Next Pick!
“This book has it all: drugs, sex, dive bars, emergency rooms, a missing sister, a romance with a psychic. This debut from Ruth Madievsky promises to be visceral, hilarious, unsettling, and entirely new. An incredible debut from Ruth Madievsky.”
—Kelsey F, Powell’s Books (Staff Pick)
“All-night and all-consuming.”
—Wesley Minter, Third Place Books (Staff Pick)
“A tender and laugh-out-loud funny debut about one woman's journey to find what she really wants in life. Exploring themes of family dynamics, generational trauma, coming out, and addiction, this book stuck with me long after I turned the final page. Stunning, hilarious, insightful, and VERY queer. I loved it.”
—David Vogel, Literati Bookstore
“It bit me, it patted my head, it ran me over, it held my hand. Madievsky writes about drugs, wandering around your early 20's, the unmatched and sometimes dangerous obligation of the sisterly bond, Russian and Jewish heritage, psychics and the sense of believing in something so well, I was entranced."
—Emily Sperber, Third Place Books
“...a spellbinding debut novel, stirring addiction, sisterhood, cultural identity, psychic vision, and the glittering City of Angels into a potent, darkly funny narrative.”
—Debra Ginsberg, DIESEL, A Bookstore
“…an astute novel about both generational and personal trauma, immigrant family pressures (all too real), queerness, and trying to figure out what one’s life should be.”
—Anton Bogomazov, Politics & Prose
“A spiraling look into a toxic sisterhood and an exploration of addiction, ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY captivated me from the very first page. The author deftly pulls the reader into rooting for the unnamed narrator, as she tumbles in and out of addiction and relationships. "
—Mallory Melton, BookPeople (Staff Pick)
“...a wonderful debut. I was wrapped up in the world of the story and all its soft and then hard-hitting moments. This novel is a lightning bolt burned into my vision."
—Torrin Nelson, Queen Anne Book Company (Staff Pick)
“For anyone who loves a good hot mess express, get ready for Ruth Madievsky's ALL-NIGHT PHARMACY. Equal parts beautiful and surreal, this incredible debut had me in its grips from page one. I adored it!”
—Lindsay Lynch, Parnassus Books
“A brilliant kaleidoscope of a debut about sisters, addiction, mental illness, queer love, and acceptance. Ruth Madievsky skillfully threads the story of the unnamed protagonist and her lost sister with both sadness and humor, navigating the brutality and dependency of their time together, as well as the years spent untangling from her past that follow. Madievsky’s ability to write beautifully about life while also providing a shockingly honest depiction of trauma has created an unforgettable novel that is both gritty in the details and breathtakingly vivid in describing the world around us.”
—Luisa Smith, Book Passage
“Oh my heart! If you are looking for a broken but tenderhearted main character to love, may I introduce you to our narrator in All-Night Pharmacy. She is the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants and the younger sister of a no-holds barred wild child, Debbie, whose grip on her life has led to her own addiction and bad choices...Gorgeous, funny as hell writing. It's all here. I read it in one big swoop.”
—Stefanie Kiper, Water Street Bookstore
“...an energetic and unique Los Angeles coming-of-age novel. Capturing moments in lyrical description, Madievsky crafts a story of two Jewish sisters intertwined in a family of trauma, finding themselves only at a bar of mystics called Salvation. Descending into prescription pills and an emergency room secretary night gig, our narrator meets Sasha, a psychic claiming a strong connection to her. The world of All-Night Pharmacy feels tangible, haunting and obscured by smoke yet relatable and warm. This story kept me guessing, using elements of city life, intense relationships, and magic to create a spellbinding novel.”
—Nikita Imafidon, Raven Book Store
“It's hard to describe All-Night Pharmacy—it deals in addiction, recovery, burgeoning sexual and cultural identity, to name a few things. All this and more surround our unnamed narrator and her volatile relationship with her older sister Debbie. Emotionally charged and turbulent, this journey of a young woman vs the void will appeal to fans of Melissa Broder and Ottessa Moshfegh.”
—Andrew King, Secret Garden Bookshop
“I inhaled it. A coming of age story that is reminiscent of Ottessa Moshfegh's novels. Madievsky manages to effortlessly balance so much within this novel; both a story of a dysfunctional and codependent relationship between the unnamed narrator and her sister and a journey of self-realization to how she wants her life to be. Within this journey, the narrator navigated through an opioid addiction and debauchery in general, sobriety, falling in love with a psychic, and befriending an iguana named Apples. This is wonderful, entrancing, beautifully written and you should absolutely read this and be exposed to the masterpiece that this book is.”
—Rachel Martin, Books Inc.
“I made the mistake of starting this novel right before bed, and consequently stayed up half the night reading. Wow--this novel is an event! It's a glorious mix of trauma and glitter. I was looking for something fast-paced, dark, and carbonated, and this was the perfect thing. If books were candy, this novel would be Pop Rocks."
—Phoenix Books (Staff Pick)
“This is a book about drugs, sisterhood, queer love, religious guilt, and the weight of the future, whether you know what it will bring or not. I don't think you could ask for anything more. Sharp and crackling with energy, Madievsky's prose pulled me through this story at lightning speed and stayed electric even when discussing the numbness of losing yourself. Worth every minute.”
—Tabitha, Still North Books (Staff Pick)
“A dark, funny, heartwarming story of generational trauma. A portrait of toxic and loving relationships, both queer and not. The book's colorful cast includes psychics, drug users, a grumpy Moldovan groundskeeper, and an iguana named Apples! Plus, Madievsky's language is beautifully poetic and her descriptions are hilarious."
—Maxim, Papercuts
“The inextricable bond of sisters is the topic of this poet’s stellar debut about a toxic, co-dependent relationship in drug-fueled Los Angeles. Our narrator’s sister is Debbie, who has always held sway over her and influenced their wild life of clubs and pills. Now Debbie is gone and a Russian psychic is enlisted to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Madievsky, a Moldovan Jewish refugee, “wanted to write the next Jesus’ Son, to write with a voice that pressed me down to my red blood cells.” Starting out as a collection of stories, it was transformed into a propulsive novel about complicated women."
—Melanie, The Center for Fiction
“This debut novel had me at the first line: “Spending time with my sister, Debbie, was like buying acid off a guy you met on the bus." Madievsky uses her talents as a poet to give you a trove of caustic similes, snappy dialogue, and a thoroughly surprising plot."
—Dan, Harvard Books (staff pick)
“In All-Night Pharmacy by Ruth Madievsky two sisters Debbie and the unnamed narrator are entangled in a toxic relationship as each deals with addiction, inherited trauma, and a schizophrenic mother. The older sister Debbie is estranged from her family and deemed a bad influence on the younger sister who dreams of attending college. In order to survive each sister must forge a life independent of the other. Despite the heavy subject All-Night Pharmacy is interspersed with humor and warmth. I love this book!”
—Caitlin Luce Baker, Island Books
“This prize-winning debut is beautiful, hellish, bizarre, and written with such velocity that it'll stay in your bloodstream for weeks."
–Subtext Books
Staff Pick, The Head & The Hand